Check Credit Score
Check Credit Score
HomeNewsInterview

Aditya Birla Health Insurance chief says on track to achieve break-even by FY23

The company has seen a 2X growth in its gross written premium for 9MFY19 to Rs 316 crore

February 20, 2019 / 06:53 PM IST

Standalone health insurer Aditya Birla Health Insurance, which saw its retail premium increase 7X in the April to December period is on track to achieve profitability in FY23. In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Mayank Bathwal, CEO of the company talks about the expansion plans and way forward.

Excerpts:

Q: A large proportion of your business is retail. Would you like to maintain these levels?

A: Given our value proposition, the idea is to get new customers and we believe that this can be achieved more through retail than the corporate business. About two-thirds of our business is retail.

For the April to December 2018 period, we collected Rs 189 crore as the retail premium which is a 7X growth on a year-on-year basis. The gross written premium also rose to Rs 316 crore for the nine months of FY19 which is a 2X rise on a YoY basis.

Q: Aditya Birla Health is a three-year-old company so it is still posting profits. Are you on track to achieve break-even?

A: Aditya Birla Capital has stated that the health insurance business would achieve break-even in the next three years. So we are on track on this path and will be able to post profits in FY23. Overall, the combined ratio has also dropped to 170 percent from 200-plus percent in the previous years.

Q: Are you looking to grow the group health business?

A: We want to grow but we don’t want to grow at any cost. There have been some inherent challenges in the way group health business is done. So while we do operate in group health, we want to write a business that is sustainable.

Q: Bancassurance accounts for a large part of your sales, will that continue?

A: We have tie-ups with nine banks. These include HDFC Bank, DCB Bank. RBL Bank, Deutsche Bank, AU Bank, Aditya Birla Payments Bank, Karur Vysya Bank and SVC Cooperative Bank. We have also tied up with Citibank and this partnership with go live from Q4FY19.

Considering the nature of our business, having a bank partner helps us get access to their customers. However, our agency channel is also seeing equally good growth and we have more than 17,000 agents.

Q: The government has launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). Would you be looking to participate in it?

A: We will complete three years later this year. Once that happens, we will be eligible to participate in the PMJAY scheme and we would like to take part in it. While a majority of the regions have opted for the trust route, we believe they are testing waters right now and the insurance route will be adopted at a later stage.

M Saraswathy
first published: Feb 20, 2019 06:53 pm

Discover the latest business news, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!

Advisory Alert: It has come to our attention that certain individuals are representing themselves as affiliates of Moneycontrol and soliciting funds on the false promise of assured returns on their investments. We wish to reiterate that Moneycontrol does not solicit funds from investors and neither does it promise any assured returns. In case you are approached by anyone making such claims, please write to us at grievanceofficer@nw18.com or call on 02268882347